The Space Between
by Antithesis
Summary: Written in the NetRaptor universe between Sonic 3 & Knuckles and Daylight Savings how Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles lost their memories, how Kunckles began working for Eggman, and how Slasher got in and out of SpaceTime Six.


**The Space Between**

Sonic and all related elements are © Sega and Archie Comics. The Cocytan species is apparently © by LucasArts. Packbell is © Brookshire Draftwood. I am not affiliated with these parties, nor do I desire to. 

Slasher is © K. M. Hollar. All rights reserved; used with permission 

Based on a set of stories by K. M. Hollar (NetRaptor) and Jared Spurbeck (Murr-Quan Lord #2), all rights reserved. (Hug a penguin!) 

This story is ©2001 Evan H. All rights reserved. May not be freely distributed. 

* * *

Author's note (I usually don't write these things...): Hey, peeps. This story takes place in the NetRaptor Sonic universe between "Sonic 3 and Knuckles" and "Daylight Savings." Since I've tied up some loose ends in my fanfics, I thought I'd collect my thoughts and write this. (Between the lines: I have an OverPowered Fan Character in my stories bearing my name who I need to downsize!) Anyway, for NetRaptor's fics, go to www.netraptor.org (if you haven't found it already!). 

Another note: For the record, Slasher's scene in ST6 is somewhat based on my personal experiences. Thought you might want to know... 

* * *

It was a perfect day on the Floating Island, the kind of day when nothing can go wrong. Naturally, it was the day one of Knux's transporters decided to go haywire. He knew exctly what was wrong; it had happened before. Fixing it wasn't the problem, either. Right now, the biggest problem was explaining to Sonic what the problem was. 

"It's a really easy thing to fix, Sonic, " Knux explained. "All I need to do is calibrate it to a constant teleporter like the one at Hydrocity." 

"What?" Sonic asked, raising one eyebrow so high his other eye began to twitch. 

Tails stepped in "He has to make sure the transporter knows where the transporter at Hydrocity is so it can figure out where everything else is from there. Understand?" 

Sonic lifted his head to nod, then shook it. "Nope." 

"Forget it, Tails," said Knux. "Sonic, just stand right here and tell me what you see. I'm going to turn this on three-fourths power so you won't go anywhere." He walked over to the broken transporter, fiddled with a few dials, and switched it on. 

Sonic was suddenly looking through a portal at Castle Acorn in the heart of Mobotropolis. The king was standing there with his daughter, Sally. "Woah," Sonic said softly, "she's pretty." 

"What're ya looking at, Sonic?" Tails asked accusingly. 

"Princess Sally. She's on the balcony at Castle Acorn with King Max." 

"Well, that's not Hydrocity. Knux?" 

Knuckles turned a few knobs. "How 'bout now?" 

"Nope," answered Sonic. "Looks like Emerald Hill." 

This went on for another ten minutes. Knux began to grow impatient. "How 'bout now?" 

"Never Lake." 

Knuckles threw up his hands. "That's on the other side of the planet!" He turned the knobs furiously and gave the transporter a nice kick. "What do you see now, Sonic?" 

Sonic's eyes opened wide with fear. "Turn it off!" he yelled. "Turn it off! It's the Interweb! Yaaahh!!" 

Tails ran to try to pull Sonic away while Knuckles let a few choice words fly as he messed with the transporter. "The switch is jammed; it won't turn off!" he yelled back. 

Sonic was scared stiff. He had heard about the Interweb from Slasher, and it didn't sound like the place to be. He tried to comfort himself with the fact that the transporter wasn't all the way on, so it couldn't suck him in. 

In a desperate attempt to turn off the transporter, Knux gave it a nice smash with his knuclaws. Unfortunately, the transporter only gave a loud whine. Knux immediately saw what he did and yelled, "It's on full power! I can't stop it!" 

Tails grabbed his whistle with one hand, Sonic with the other, and began flying away form the portal which was beginning to suck in its surroundings like a vacuum cleaner. Using what breath he could spare, he blew five strong blasts on the whistle. 

* * *

Back on the mainland, a certain winged velociraptor cocked her head. Audible only to the keenest of ears, she heard a whistle. She counted the blasts and grew more anxious with each one. When she heard the fifth one, she ran for the shore and took off, flying in the direction of the sound. "Please don't let me be too late," she thought. 

* * *

Tails was now hanging on to Sonic with an iron grip. Fear spawned adrenaline, adrenaline gave strength, but his tails were beginning to weaken. Knuckles saw this and grabbed Tails' free hand. He took his other and plowed the spikes into the ground, hoping it would be enough to hold them until Slasher arrived. 

It wasn't. Despite their best efforts, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles were sucked into the void of the Interweb. Tragically, Slasher arrived just in time to see Knux lose his grip. 

Her first impulse was to go in after them, but without something rooting her to the real world, she would suffer the same fate as her friends. That option was quickly blocked off, however, when the transporter sputtered and died, closing the portal. 

Espio, the Floating Island's only other resident, ran up. "I heard screaming. Is everything okay?" 

Slasher looked solemnly at the chamelion and said, "Espio, do you know what the Interweb is?" 

"Uh, yeah. I heard it's really horrible." 

Slasher said no more but looked at the broken transporter. 

Espio followed her gaze and gulped. "Y-you mean, Knux is..." 

"And Sonic and Tails." Slasher turned and walked slowly away, trying desperately to come up with a plan. Espio stood in shock. 

* * *

Slasher had come up with a harebrained scheme that only had a slim chance of working: she could use a protable version of the Eye the Cocytans had given her and enter Space-Time Six. From there, she could hopefully find a back door to the Interweb and pull her friends out. There wasn't much hope, but if there was any chance at all of it working, she was willing to take it. 

Slowly, silently, she pressed the button. A portal opened before her, and she stepped through. As soon as her tail had completely entered Space-Time Six, the portal closed. Slasher now saw the fatal flaw in her plan: she had no way back to Space-Time Four! If she took one step further into the unknown, she would loose the portal for good. If she stayed put, she could exit through the portal if it ever opened. The way her device was rigged, it would open an exit portal if Slasher was ever needed back in S-T Four, in other words, if someone blew one of her whistles. Slasher decided to play it safe for the moment and waited. 

Slasher was trapped in an alternate reality; Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles were lost between realities; and Robotnik was preparing to overthrow the throne... 

* * *

The Interweb was Hell to a living being. It was the space between the fifth and sixth dimensions with portals leading inward from every other dimension and parallel universe in the fourth dimension, including the universe that held Mobius. If a living organism was thrust into the Interweb, it was almost ripped apart as it shifted back and fourth between states of existence. Its mind fared little better, as it was subject to shifts in reality in no particular pattern. The never-ending temporal displacement drastically altered all functions of the organism's mind. If it did manage to paste together a cohesive thought, though, it was probably a reminder that there were only three portals leading out of the Interweb, so the chance of getting out was next to none. 

As Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles were hurled into the chaos that was the Interweb, the random shockwaves instantly seperated Knux from the other two, who maintained their iron grip on each other's wrist. As Sonic and Tails floated through the web of portals, the distortive effects were minimized because they still had something for their minds and bodies to hold on to: each other. Finally, after what was an eternity to them, they were hurled out an exit portal with a force equal to a bullet train. 

Sonic and Tails hit the ground hard, but neither let go of the other. Another object flew out of the portal with them but, being lighter weight, flew through the window of a nearby prison. 

Prison? 

The two travellers got up, still refusing to let go. To their perception of time, they had been in the Interweb for... forever. As their minds started to pull themselves back together, they noticed that it was difficult, if not impossible, to remember anything from before entering the Interweb. 

Now they were standing in what looked like the middle of a ghetto. The buildings were drab and the sky was overcast and grey. Tails, fear still in his eyes, asked, "D-do y-ya think we're still... there?" 

Sonic walked over to a wall and knocked on it with his hand. "No," he said, "everything seems solid." 

"So we're definitely in the fourth dimension, right?" 

"You're the scientist, li'l buddy. But I'd say ten to one we are." 

Just then, Sonic and Tails heard voices around the corner of a building. Not letting go of each other, they slunk into the ever-present shadows. 

A small group of Mobians sneaked around the corner, the majority of them Sonic's age. Deciding it was worth the risk, he gave a low shout. "Hey, psst!" he whispered. A ground squirrel who looked like the leader looked in their direction and motioned for them to follow. 

"Where are we?" Sonic whispered as soon as he was close enough. 

The squirrel shushed him. "Don't talk until we're out of the city," she fiercely whispered. He willingly obliged. 

At the edge of the city there was a large clearing seaperating it from the forest beyond. The squirrel looked frantically yet carefully in all directions, then said, "Run!" 

The small group made a mad dash for the forest. The feeling of running came back to Sonic suddenly, and he took off like a bullet, Tails still in tow. 

In the shelter of the forest, Sonic asked, "Okay, now will you tell us where we are?" 

The squirrel looked at them strangely. "Um, well, the city we just left is Robotropolis. It used to be Mobotropolis, but Julian took it over and renamed it. Why?" 

"I'll explain in a minute. Who's Julian?" 

"Um, I think he said something about his name being Robotnik when-" 

"ROBOTNIK?! Did that to Mobotropolis?!" Sonic yelled, for bueried as they were, Sonic's memories of Robotnik (before the Floating Island) were untouched by the Interweb, as were Tails'. After Sonic had calmed down, he asked, "And who are all of you?" 

The squirrel curtsied as well as she could. "Sally Alica of the house of Acorn. This is Antione D'Collette, Rotor Walrus, and Bunnie Rabbot." A fox wih a guard's uniform and a walrus with a utility belt bowed and waved 'hi' respectively. Bunnie, they found out later, was a victim of Robotnik's new toy: the robotisizer. However, she had escaped halfway through the process leaving only her legs and left arm robotisized and the rest of her body (and her free will) intact. 

"So who are you? Sonic the Hedgehog?" Sally asked. 

Sonic and Tails bowed. "That I am. This would be my pal Tails." Tails waved his free hand. 

"I thought that was you when we ran the clearing. But why are the two of you... um... holding hands?" 

Tails closed his eyes and looked away, and Sonic's eyes grew dark. "We've been through a... very traumatic experience. Let's just say we've lost most of our long-term memories, and we're still a little afraid to get separated. Let's leave it at that, okay?" 

Sally nodded. "C'mon, people, let's get to Knothole." 

"What's that?" Tails asked. 

"A village hidden back a little ways in the woods. We can settle down, get our bearings, and make some plans from there." 

The rest, as they say, is history. 

* * *

Knuckles, on the other hand, fared much worse. Because he was alone, his mind was much more succeptible to the endless shifts in reality. When he finally exited the Interweb, it was back on the Floating Island. 

It was dark, cold, raining, thundering, and lightning. Knuckles had landed in a pit. He got up and looked around frantically, wondering what tricks the Interweb was playing on him now. A fair part of him knew that this wasn't the Interweb but real life, but the greater part of him had been so badly warped that anything scared him. 

Lightning flashed, and Knux bolted. He didn't care what direction, he just wanted to get away and now he was finally able to do so. Suddenly, he ran into something, or someone. 

"Knux?" it said, picking itself up. 

Knux scrambled back a few feet. He studied... it. It was the first time in... a long time to him that anything had sounded cohesive. 

"Knuckles? Is it really you?" it asked. 

It was hard to believe that someone else... existed, and Knux's mind interpreted that as fear. He turned and ran. 

Espio stood there, silent. "Poor fella, I hope he makes it..." 

* * *

-One Month Later- 

* * *

Knux was hiding in a cave as he had for the past month. He was scared of the dark and scared of the light. He was scared of the enclosed cave and scared of the open space in front of it. To save writing a long, poetic illustration, he was scared of everything, espically that purple guy that walked by every day... Even sleep brought no peace, for nightmares of the Interweb haunted his dreams. 

Espio sat alone in his hut. It had been a month since he had seen his pal Knuckles in the rain that night, and he was getting worried. Often he'd sneak into Knux's cave "invisible" and find him cowering there, eyes wide open and shaking with fear. 

Espio's trail of thought broke, though, when the door to his hut flew open, Knux standing in the opening. Raising his fist threateningly, although his quavering voice and fear-filled eyes suggested otherwise, he said, "What are you doing on my island?" 

"Knux!" Espio yelled. "You're okay!" 

Knuckles raised an eyebrow. "And you are?" 

"Don't you remember me? You're old pal, Espio?" 

Knuckles shook his head. 

"Remember? You, me an' Sonic an' Tails played Capture the Flag all those times..." 

"Who're Sonic and Tails? More tresspassers?" 

Espio sat down. "Do you remember anything?" 

"Yeah. I was askin' you what you were doing on my island!" 

"Um, I live here." 

Knux had a pained look on his face. This guy's story worked; after al, he'd seen him every day or so. Besides, Knux really didn't have the courage to run this guy off anyway. Trying to maintain his "superior" appearance, Knux said, "How 'bout this: stay out of trouble, and I'll let you stay." 

"I guess so." 

"Good, uh, what was your name again?" 

"Espio." 

* * *

Robotropolis, formerly known as Mobotropolis. In his command tower, Robotnik sat by a computer console with Snively. "How long has it been since Knuckles exited the Interweb, Snively?" he asked. 

"About a month sir," was Snively's reply. 

"He should be reasonably stable by now. Prepare my hovercraft." 

Snively turned to go, but as he left he asked, "Um, sir? Does this mean I'm out of a job?" 

Robotnik chuckled. "Snively, this is your best chance for me to forgive you for letting Sonic and Tails through the portal instead of Knuckles!" 

Snively groaned and left. How was HE supposed to have known who was going to fly through the portal? The stupid Interweb portal generator couldn't identify organisms until after they'd exited the Interweb! 

Oh, well. Snively brooded as he began making the necessary arrangements for Robotnik to leave for the Floating Island. Now Mr. Big Man was off to recruit Knuckles. With all the bragging Robotnik did of Knuckles, it looked like Snively's job as his right-hand man was over. As he continued making settings, it crossed Snively's mind to sabatoge the hovercraft... No, then Robotnik would be even madder at him and get Metal Sonic to do the job. He groaned again at the thought of Metal Sonic. Him and Packbell. he might as well jump ship and join the Freedom Fighters; their prison must be better than being replaced by a couple of robots and an echidna with half his memory gone... 

* * *

"Knuckles," Robotnik purred, "I have a problem. My rule over this planet is still a little shakey, and I don't want any interference from other planets. Do you have any ideas short of making a huge force field?" 

Knuckles thought. This Robotnik guy didn't seem half bad to him, so he decided to give him a little advice. "Well, apart from what you said, the only thing I can think of is putting Mobius in a seperate Space-Time continuim." 

Robotnik whistled. "How hard would that be?" 

"Well, with the right equipment and the time stones, it actually wouldn't be that hard. Little Planet should be entering Mobius' orbit soon, if the date you gave me is correct. You could go over there and swipe the Time Stones no problem with the kind of machines you've got." 

Robotnik nodded. "There's just one thing I need." 

"And that is?" 

"You, partner." 

"No problemo, partner." 

'Nice to have you back, Knuckles,' Robotnik thought. 

* * *

A fair portion of all of this was seen by Slasher. She didn't see Robotnik making plans with Knuckles, but she did see him come back with Knux. She also saw Sonic and Tails performing spectacularly with the Freedom Fighters. 

The problem was, she could only watch. 

She was still in Space-Time Six. Existence in Space-Time Six was different from Space-Time Four, the normal world. In Six, just by thinking, she could look at particular spots in Four. After a while, though, she stopped. Watching and not being able to help gave her a feeling of uselessness, something she didn't like. 

Now she was isolated in her own mind, racking it for any other ways out of Six than the way she came in. "I got myself into this," she thought, "I can get myself out." After some time of nothing, though, she gave up. "Face it," she told herself, "you can't do anything." 

Suddenly an idea clicked in her head: Isn't that what God's been trying to tell you? 

She entertained the idea a bit more. Sure, she had been a little arrogent going into Space-Time Six. No, scratch that, she was very arrogent. The more she looked at the way she'd been acting in the recent weeks, the more she saw that she'd been leaving God almost completely out of her actions. 

At first she was horrified. How could she have gone from the eager velociraptor so enamored with her newfound Truth that she was willing to risk the wrath of the greatest scientist on Cocytus to... this... dried up well with only enough faith to realize how little she had. This only lasted a little while, though. Being the rational, intelligent raptor she was, Slasher realized the best thing to do was pray. 

Slowly, using her native tounge (she had too much emotion to use a foreign language!), Slasher made her attempt to make things right with God. Roughly translated, she said, "God, I've been really stupid, and I need your help to get me back on the right track. I... just... well, I want you to be in everything I do. Let my actions by yours. Lord, just... renew my fire." A song made its way from her memory to her conscious, which she quoted. "Renew the light of my first love that once burned bright and clear." 

She paused. She felt a little better, more at peace, but she still wasn't satisfied. "Well," she thought, "what got me so excited in the first place?" Slowly, step by step, she recounted the whole story of Jesus. In other words, she preached to herself. With each word she spoke, her joy grew that much more. By the time she got to the part where he rose from the dead, every other breath out of her mouth was part of a praise song. She was on top of the world, and to quote another song, "The world don't give it and the world can't take it away." 

Once she realized what she was doing, she silently thanked God for turning her around. She wanted to go on with what she was doing, but a nagging was telling her to look at Robotropolis. She did just in time to see Sonic on the floor of a prison picking up a whistle. He looked a bit older from the last time she had seen him; she must have sped forward in time a few years! 

She got up and turned around, waiting with bated breath for the portal to open. As she did, she noticed her portable Eye. Picking it up, she said, "I despise ever using you, yet I thank God that I did. No hard feelings, k?" With that, she flung it into the nothingness of Space-Time Six. 

Without warning, the portal opened. Without thinking twice, she bolted through. 

* * *

As Slasher ran through Robotropolis, she noticed nothing was moving. "Time must not have cought up with me yet," she thought. Spying a flamethrower near some hydrogen tanks, she got another crazy idea. She aimed a flamethrower at a tank and pulled the trigger. 

Nothing happened. 

She then realized that the flamethrower was frozen in time along with everything else, so she grabbed a small wire-rope nearby and tied the trigger open. She then laid the gun down, positioned so it would still ignite the hydrogen. She felt rather than saw Time starting to catch up with her and took off. 

As Time started up again, she heard Sonic's whistle four more times. She honed in on their signal and found the prison within half a minute. The door was open, but she stopped as soon as she saw who was inside... 

Robotnik. After all these years of imprisonment, Slasher could finally give him his. She charged him from behind so quickly he never knew what hit him since he was knocked out as soon as he was hit. Slasher stood there for a second, wondering what to do next. 

"Good one, Slasher," Sonic moaned from the last cell, too weak to speak normally. 

Slasher ran to the bars of the cell, tears in her eyes. "Sonic," she said, "I'm back! I can't believe it, but I'm back!" 

So ends the imprisonment of Slasher. 

* * *

- www.madcrasher.com - 


End file.
